Re-Thinking The Narrative Of LGBTQ Identity In South Africa This month, the University of the Witwatersrand will host a conference where leading academics in the study of sexuality and gender identify and investigate ideas and theories that aim to better understand the ways in which gender and sexuality intersect. According to Wits University’s Dean of Arts, Professor David Masondo, rethinking LGBTQ identities is a key focus of the symposium, which seeks to re-evaluate previous narratives as well as investigate whether ‘unpopular’ ideas are valid. As a queer man of colour who has written extensively on queer identities in SA, I am delighted to see this conference coming up. As someone who is acutely aware of how complex sexual identities can be for racialised and oppressed communities, this feels like a very important moment. For too long, academics have been content to present Western theories and cultural narratives as ‘universal’, allowing them to be used to oppress the identities of those they ‘scientifically’ study. It’s for this reason that I am particularly excited that these academics are going back to look at historical narratives and how identity has played out for those who have been deemed ‘too weird’. The power of being told your identity is ‘too weird’ is real and should not be taken for granted. I have been hearing a lot about the symposium, and I have begun to wonder if my identities have been considered in the past. My identities are often not considered valid in academic circles, yet I have always found it important to write about identity politics. But I am also aware that sometimes academics don’t consider my experiences as valid or that I have a voice. While studying gender studies in college, I felt this acutely, as every theory presented in class was based on a Western-led understanding of gender. It seemed that I had less of a voice than cis men who did not have to look at gendered language and culture, who could simply identify as men, and for me, I couldn’t. I often faced the question of why I identify as queer, and I struggled to answer this. The more I searched for information about queer identities, the more I felt like a non-person in the academic sphere. This was compounded by the fact that I have been raped and the trauma associated with this, and my gender identity and the experiences that I’ve had dealing with my gender expression. How could I voice my experiences as a black girl who was raped, as someone with mental health issues, and who happens to be LGBTQ? To be honest, I still find it difficult to voice all these aspects of myself, and often feel like an outsider because I do not fit within the idea of what a gender scholar should be or should look like. This is a very deep and very complicated issue, and one I hope that this conference will bring to light, so that everyone feels as though their identity is seen as important and valid. The question is often what you do with your voice, and I am proud to see South Africa hosting such a powerful forum. For my part, I’m excited to be involved in an academic conference that will give us a much deeper understanding of how race and gender intersect and cause so much pain. More importantly, I am hopeful that this conference will help us to be a part of the process of thinking differently about our identities and re-evaluating how we think about them. I am keen to share my thoughts on some of the issues that will be discussed in the conference, and I am also hopeful that my views and stories will be considered as valid as any other voice. I do not feel any less qualified to do this than any other academic or activist. I feel like there are plenty of people who can talk about race and gender but it’s important for me to acknowledge that I also have an insight into both issues and also how they play out in my life. I hope that we can use this opportunity to rethink identities and how they have shaped people and communities who have been labelled as ‘too weird’ or too problematic. I look forward to all that will be discussed and the stories that will be shared in the symposium. By Mthembu Mhlongo Mthembu Mhlongo is a writer, poet, activist and researcher. She is currently completing her PhD at Wits University where she is also completing her B.Ed. Related This year we saw many celebrities, brands and communities publicly embracing Pride. South Africa was recently elected to the UN Human Rights Council, while here in South Africa, the post-apartheid government continues to invest in anti-LGBTI rhetoric and legislation. This leads to a country where people who are LGBTI are constantly living in fear of being attacked or killed. So, how can we talk about LGBT rights in a country like South Africa? – by Niki Moore. Lately I have been reading a lot about white privilege and ‘whiteness’ and thinking about my own ‘whiteness’. I’ve been going through a few things, which I’ll try and talk about here. – by Kaitlin Woolwine. I am happy to announce the release of Trans: Gender-Queer Voices from Southern Africa, a collection of short stories by 17 transgender and genderqueer people from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho and Namibia. This anthology was made possible by the Ford Foundation Gender and Development South Africa (GAD) programme, who worked together with IGLYO to publish Trans: Gender-Queer Voices from Southern Africa as part of the international project Transgender Voices. – by Jubilant Syal. We are excited to launch our newest short film project called #Genderelephant. After a short film competition hosted on Wits UnCensored, the winning filmmakers are now working with our media platform #Genderelephant to make an eight minute documentary about gender and sexuality on the streets of South Africa. – by Lara Vogel. On March 20th this year, W